Four-storeyed CMC car park at Wellawatte

by Ananda KANNANGARA

The Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) would open a fully fledged four-storeyed building complex at Wellawatta, Colombo next year for commuters to park their vehicles at affordable rates.

The building complex, constructed at a cost of Rs. 200 million, would be opened in May 2011.

The ground floor would be utilised as a shopping mall with supermarkets and retail and wholesale fish and vegetable stalls, while the upper floors would be used to park vehicles.

At least 100 vehicles could be parked in the premises at a time. CMC, Director Engineering (Traffic Design and Road Safety), K.A.D.N. Wickramaratne told the Sunday Observer that the objective of constructing the building complex is to pave the way for vehicle owners to park their vehicles outside the Colombo city limits.

Quoting a recent CMC research, Wickramaratne revealed that over 2,000 vehicles enter the city everyday, the majority of which are motor cars and private passenger vans.

In addition to over 2,000 small parking lots maintained by the CMC, it is also reported that at least 15 vehicle parks owned by the private sector operate in the Colombo city.Many of them charge exorbitant amounts without providing proper parking facilities.

Wickramaratne also voiced displeasure over the large number of motor cars entering the city everyday with only one passenger. He said such vehicles take up vast parking space to accommodate a few persons.